Disney News

Beautifully Disney, is the new collection of cosmetics available exclusively at Disney Parks. The first of many collections is called Wickedly Beautiful. In typical Disney fashion, the line’s inspiration and theming is “Good versus Evil”.

Walt Disney World

Scott Hunnel, chef at Victoria & Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, is one of six Central Florida chefs nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award. The James Beard Foundation Awards is the nation’s gold standard honoring professionals in the food and beverage industries.

New park maps have been introduced around the Walt Disney World Resort. The redesigned maps are now to scale to assist guests with judging approximate distances between attractions. The newly designed maps were inspired by the online versions found on the “My Disney Experience” website.

Additional information has been released concerning the MyMagic+ MagicBands for Walt Disney World Resort guests. The bands are hypoallergenic and are designed to handle the extreme temperatures in Central Florida. The bands are waterproof and sizable to fit any guest. The band comes in seven color options and can have the guest’s name printed on it. The band will be similar to the traditional Key to the World Card in that personal information will not be available on the band. The band contains a code that links to Disney’s databases. The MagicBand is optional and guests staying at the resort as well as Annual Passholders will continue to have the option of tickets or Key to the World cards.

The second phase of MyMagic+ ‘Touch to Enter’ turnstiles opened at all four Walt Disney Theme Parks. Fifty percent of the turnstiles are now enabled with the new technology. Resort guests as well as newly purchased theme park tickets are enabled with MyMagic+ technology.

Wi-Fi internet service in guest rooms has been improved around the Walt Disney World Resort. First introduced during Spring, 2011, the upgraded service should help with dropped connections as well as improved performance.

Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest Restaurant is set to have another round of FastPass+ testing. The first round of testing occurred in December, allowing guests to pre-plan a time for lunch as well as select their menu options prior to arriving at the restaurant. Guests have been pre-selected from various resorts to participate in the testing.

The most recent Limited Time Magic saw the Dapper Dans pay tribute to “Boy Bands” on Main Street, U.S.A. and a Spring Trolley Show on Main Street, U.S.A.

Cinderella’s Royal Table will close for a brief refurbishment in May. The four day construction will take place between May 13 and May 16, with the restaurant reopening on May 17.

Epcot

Mission Space’s exterior is under scrim for a refurbishment. The attraction will continue to operate during the construction.

Animal Kingdom

The check-in location for the Wild Africa Trek has been moved to the FastPass distribution area of Kilimanjaro Safaris. Previously, the check-in location was at the Dawa Bar outside of the Tusker House restaurant.

Character meet and greets will now take place in “Adventurers Outpost”, formerly “Beastly Bazaar”. Guests will be able to meet Mickey and Minnie at this new location as opposed to Camp Minnie Mickey. Donald and Daisy Duck will now meet guests at Discovery Island. Pooh and friends will now move from Discovery Island to Camp Minnie Mickey.

Downtown Disney

The popular Holiday Sandwich was made a permanent menu item at Earl of Sandwich. The sandwich was previously offered from the beginning of October until the middle of January.

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures fared well at the 85th Academy Awards. Among the big winners, Daniel Day Lewis won for Leading Actor for his portrayal in ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Brave’ won for Animated Feature Film.

D23

Japan has scheduled its first D23 convention. The expo will take place from October 12 through October 14 and will be the first D23 expo to take place outside of the U.S. The expo will be hosted senior Disney Japan Creative Executives at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Ticketing information will be announced in March.